A building management system (BMS) is, in general, hardware and/or software configured to control, monitor, and manage devices in or around a building or building area. BMS subsystems or devices can include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) subsystems or devices, security subsystems or devices, lighting subsystems or devices, fire alerting subsystems or devices, elevator subsystems or devices, other devices that are capable of managing building functions, or any combination thereof.
Fault detection is an element of some building management systems. Equipment faults can increase energy consumption, decrease equipment lifespans, and cause other undesirable effects in a building or building system. Many building management systems use fault detection to generate system alerts and drive diagnostic procedures.
Typical fault detection systems produce a list of potential faults. Correcting detected faults has the potential to reduce energy consumption as well as the financial cost that a building owner pays for energy. However, the building owner may be required to devote considerable human and economic resources to correct a detected fault. It is difficult and challenging to determine whether it would be cost effective to correct a detected fault and to determine a fault correction priority.